Better Than This
by Ada15
Summary: Dolph's desperate for a change in his career. But it could cause major problems in his personal life. Dolph Ziggler/CM Punk
1. Chapter 1

I guess this story starts after Over the Limit but it is going to go off storyline even though it's character based like most of my fics. It is slash, of course.

I adore this pairing. Actually, I just adore both of these guys and I completely agree with Dolph Ziggler. He should be at the top of the roster with Punk and Bryan.

But, Randy Orton just got suspended which means there will be no Orton/Ziggler feud. I was actually looking forward to that feud. Despite what some people say, Orton's pretty good at putting people over.

I don't own anyone mentioned in this fic

xxxxxxxxxx

"Who exactly are you rooting for in this match?" John leaned a bit closer to Punk as he asked the question, glancing towards the other man, who looked rather relaxed in his seat.

"Haven't decided yet," Punk answered, despite the fact that the match had been going on for a couple of minutes already but John saw him wince slightly when Kofi landed a hit from the top rope on Ziggler.

"I don't get it," John said a few minutes later when Ziggler and Swagger managed to get the upper hand and employed some rather underhanded tactics.

"You've said that before." Punk didn't look away from the monitor.

"I know…" John really didn't get it though. Punk and Kofi traveled together, they were friends and John knew that Kofi was a good guy. Ziggler, on the other hand…

John glanced sideways at Punk once again. Punk was already in his ring gear, legs stretched out before him and John chewed his lip, looking away. Okay, so he might have had personal reasons for not liking Ziggler, other than the fact that Ziggler liked to cheat in his matches.

Actually, that had been a problem for him for a while. One that didn't seem to want to go away. He wasn't really sure what to do about it. Ziggler and Punk had been together for months. Unbelievably, they'd started whatever it was t they had near the end of their feud.

He heard Punk sigh when Kofi landed his finisher and got the pin on Ziggler. "You happy with that?"

"Still haven't decided."

Xxxxxxxxxx

"What is the matter with you?" Jack couldn't help but to ask, eyeing his tag team partner. Dolph was sitting, leaned back in his seat, still in his ring attire and looked as if he wasn't planning on getting up anytime soon.

Jack had already showered and changed himself. Dolph didn't answer him, his gaze trained on the monitor before him. CM Punk was making his way down to the ring to defend his title against Daniel Bryan.

"You and him get into a fight?" Jack asked. He was only halfway interested in the answer to that question. His friendship with Dolph was based solely in their careers. He didn't really care about the details of Dolph's personal life.

Dolph raised an eyebrow and put his hands behind his head. "Yes, Jack. That's it. Why don't you sit down and we can talk about it. Maybe I can cry on your shoulder."

John rolled his eyes at the heavy sarcasm. "As fun as that sounds, I think I'm going to get out of here."

Dolph's attention was already fully focused on the monitors, however. Jack shook his head and turned to leave. He didn't really get why Dolph and Punk were even together. CM Punk was a grouchy asshole and Dolph was an egotistical jackass. Their 'relationship' seemed to be based around those personality traits, or at least from what Jack had seen of them so far.

As much as Jack didn't care about the details, he'd covered for the two of them on more than one occasion. So far, he was pretty sure he and only a couple other guys that were friends with Punk backstage knew about the two of them.

While neither Dolph nor Punk seemed to care who knew, Jack preferred the rest of the world not knowing about it. As much as it burned him even to think it, he knew, at this point, the only two reasons he was still on television every week were Vickie and Dolph.

It did burn. The knowledge that he had been, at one point, a champion. The knowledge that his career had fallen so hard and so fast. He glanced at Dolph again before leaving the room. He was pretty sure he knew why Dolph had been in such a foul mood and he didn't like it.

Xxxxxxxxx

"You look…happy." Dolph eyed Punk, unable to match the grin on the man's face.

"Why wouldn't I be?" Punk asked, sitting down beside him on the bench.

"You know Bryan's just going to contest that and that he's going to be replaying the end of that match for weeks."

"He can replay it all he wants," Punk said, unwinding his wrist tape. He sounded completely unconcerned.

"What's up with that thing with AJ?" He'd seen the girl approach Punk before his match.

"Why?" Punk smirked, raised an eyebrow at him. "Jealous?"

"Please. I don't get jealous. I mean, who in their right mind would choose her over me?"

Punk looked him over. "Yeah, I guess you're girly enough." He pulled off his kick pads.

"With legs like that, I wouldn't be calling anyone else girly," Dolph commented. He frowned a bit when Punk moved his title to lay it on top of his bag, his vision caught by it for a moment.

Punk grinned. "I'm going to shower. You coming?"

Dolph shook his head distractedly. The sight of Punk's WWE title sitting there in front of him only brought back his bad mood from before. Brought back the fact that while Punk had been in-and winning-WWE championship matches, he'd been losing tag team matches.

"Suit yourself." Punk shrugged and then dropped his trunks, heading towards the shower.

Dolph watched him walk away, for the moment forgetting his darker thoughts in favor of that sight and he jumped up, following anyway. Couldn't be too clean, after all.

Xxxxxxxxx

"Would you just…settle for a minute?" There was a hint of frustration in Dolph's voice and he pulled Punk so that the man was laying half on top of him. They'd been back at the hotel for several hours and Dolph, for one, was exhausted.

"You're not going to sleep are you?" He asked even though Punk had stilled with his head resting on Dolph's chest.

"Probably not." He paused and his tone was serious when he spoke next. "What the matter with you?"

"Nothing. I'm fine. Great, even."

Punk lifted his head to meet his gaze, the look on his face skeptical. Dolph sighed. He really didn't want to get into it. But Punk would know that he was lying. The few people who knew about them would probably never understand why they were together or how they had stayed together for as long as they had.

Ninety percent of their relationship consisted of traded insults, the type of banter that helped greatly with the still widely believed misconception that they hated each other. But there was the other ten percent that nobody ever saw but them.

"I'm good. Just tired. So, you know, if you're going to stay up…"

"Yeah, yeah." Punk pulled away from him and got up from the bed. "Actually, I think I'm going to go find the gym."

"This late?" There wasn't much surprise in Dolph's voice. Punk usually did this after a match like the one he'd had earlier in the night.

"I gotta work this out," he said with a shrug, putting on his tennis shoes. Dolph waited until after he'd left the room before he dropped back on the bed again, his mind wondering back to his own match.

He had to do something about it. He was getting restless, unhappy with the situation he found himself in. He needed to do something about it.


	2. Chapter 2

I'm going to start a bit off storyline here. While this thing with AJ doesn't bug me too much, I don't think she's going to be included in this fic. I've got different plans for it.

I just bought tickets to a house show in July! I can't wait.

Xxxxxxx

"Oh, hell." Punk sighed after he said the words, his arms crossed across his chest. He'd been waiting for something like this to happen for a while. He'd recognized the restless, unhappy look in Dolph's eyes everytime they were in the arena or his career was even mentioned. He'd seen it in the mirror once or twice himself back before last summer.

Dolph had just walked out on Vickie and Swagger. Punk really had no problem with that development. Dolph's claims that he was "better than this" were nothing but the truth. Swagger's career had started going down the drain the moment he'd lost the World Heavyweight Title and he'd been taking Dolph down with him ever since.

He rubbed a hand over his chin as he studied Swagger's expression on the screen. Even without being face to face with the man, he could practically read what Swagger was thinking. Punk had the impression that Swagger knew Dolph and Vickie were his only chance of staying in the company.

He also got the impression that Swagger would be happy with keeping Dolph in the midcard hell for the rest of his career to keep himself in the company. Punk had been waiting for Dolph to realize this for a while.

While he didn't think Dolph would go so far as to quit the way that Punk had, he did see the same frustration in Dolph.

Xxxxxxxxx

"_You want to help me, Vickie? Get me out of this tag team." _

Dolph _was _frustrated. Losing yet another tag team match because of a mistake on Jack's part just pissed him off this time. He wasn't generally the type to get too angry. He usually left that to Punk but he'd been stuck in a tag team that was doing him absolutely no favors for far too long.

"Dolph!"

The call made him scowl and he turned to face Otunga. The man had his ever present sweater vest and cup of coffee as he made his way over to Dolph, who waited impatiently.

"Mr. Laurinaitis would like to see you in his office."

"What the hell does he want?" Dolph asked, frustration leaking into his voice. He was to damn pissed to fake politeness with the guy. He'd used Laurinaitis before. Used him to get on the Wrestlemania card, used him to gain a few title matches but at the moment, he wasn't in the mood to pander to the general manager.

Otunga seemed surprised at his tone but he continued anyway. "He would like to see you in his office. Now."

"Fine," Dolph said, gritting his teeth, aware that it wouldn't do to burn anymore bridges. He followed after Otunga, trying to get himself into the right headspace. Maybe he had asked the wrong person. Laurinaitis was the general manager, after all.

Xxxxxx

Jack was not happy. Dolph storming out was not a good thing for him, definitely wouldn't be in the long run. By the time Jack made it backstage and had changed and took a shower, he was fuming, had been thinking about it nonstop.

Dolph had disappeared just after their tag match had ended. Jack hadn't seen him but he knew Dolph hadn't gone back to the hotel. His bag was still in their locker room. For several minutes, he wondered what Dolph could be doing and that just made his already bad mood worse.

When he rounded a corner, on his way to the parking lot, and saw Punk talking to John Cena in the hallway, he started over to them without even thinking about it first.

"This is your fault," he growled as soon as he got close, almost getting into Punk's personal space.

Punk turned his attention to Jack, looked him over. "What's that?" He sounded unconcerned, even amused, which only made Jack's temper rise even further.

Jack started to answer but then turned his glare on Cena. "You mind?"

Cena raised an eyebrow in Punk's direction. "I got this," Punk answered the unspoken question and Cena nodded, walking off.

"This is your fault," Jack repeated once Cena was out of earshot. "I bet you've been telling Dolph all that crap he said earlier."

"That crap? You mean that he's better than you?" Punk shrugged. "I would think maybe he just finally recognized the truth."

"You honestly think that? He is not better than me." Even in his own ears, he sounded bitter. "This is your fault." And he kept coming back to that.

"I didn't tell him to do it." Punk paused, his eyes narrowing. "But I'm not unhappy he did. What's the matter? Worried you won't be able to find someone else you can latch onto and ruin?"

"You better shut your mouth now," Jack said, his words low and even angrier.

"Or what? You going to hit me, Swagger?" He paused, a smirk on his face. "You know what, go ahead." He lifted his chin. "I'll give you the first shot free."

Jack scowled and even raised his fist but he didn't throw the punch. Besides the fact that Cena was still down the hallway, throwing the first punch on Punk would only get Dolph even more pissed at him.

Punk's smirk widened when Jack remained still. "What I thought." He shook his head and walked around Jack, back towards his locker room.

Jack watched him go, angry with himself as well as Dolph and Punk.

Xxxxxxx

As per usual, Laurinaitis was on his phone when Dolph went into the man's office. He suppressed the urge to roll his eyes and stopped in front of the man. His mood soured further at having to stand there and wait for Laurinaitis to acknowledge his presence.

"Oh, Dolph," Laurinaitis finally said, like he'd just noticed him standing there.

"Yeah?"

Laurinaitis smiled. "I just wanted to let you know that I saw what happened after your match tonight."

"What about it?" Dolph's tone was shorter than he'd intended but he couldn't seem to help it. Laurinaitis didn't seem to notice, however.

"I think there may be something I can do for you."

Dolph raised an eyebrow. "What exactly do you think you can do for me?"

Xxxxxxx

"Jack!"

He'd almost made it to the parking lot when the call stopped him and Jack turned to see Eve coming towards him. He suppressed the urge to scowl at the woman, aware that anything he said to her would get straight back to Laurinaitis.

"What can I do for you?" He asked instead with as much forced politeness he could muster.

"Actually, I think there's something I might be able to do for you."


	3. Chapter 3

_"What could you possibly do for me?" _

_"Well, I am the general manager, remember Dolph. You want to be at the top. I can help you get there."_

Dolph had to suppress a groan when he made it inside his hotel room and found Punk asleep on the bed. Not because he was irritated at the sight…well, he was bothered by it but not in a bad way.

He would never admit it out loud, partially because it would most likely get him nothing but a kick to the head from the man on the bed and mostly because while he could be a bit less of an asshole around Punk there were still lines, but he always liked the sight.

Punk rarely slept. He could go strong for days with very little sleep so the sight before Dolph was a very rare one. Admittedly, Dolph had been waiting for it to happen. The past several days, Punk's insomnia had been even worse than usual.

He had obviously fallen asleep while reading. His Cubs hat lay on the pillow near his head. He was on his stomach, one arm hanging off the side of the bed. The latest comic he'd been reading was lying on the floor next to the bed.

Dolph sighed and put the comic and the hat away before deciding whether or not he should try and get the man out of his jeans, knew he'd be more comfortable without them but, after a moment, decided against it. If he woke Punk up, and there was no chance that wouldn't happen if he tried that, it was likely that Punk wouldn't be able to fall back asleep. Punk's almost _erratic _behavior when he went too long without sleep was something Dolph could only take so much of.

So, Dolph stripped down to his boxers himself and climbed into bed. He lay on his back for several minutes, staring up at the ceiling. It had been three days since RAW and, still, the only thing on his mind was the 'meeting' he'd had with Laurinaitus.

Despite what some people seemed to think, Dolph was not an idiot. Laurinaitus was fairly easy to read. The whole meeting had revolved solely around his abject hatred of Punk. He'd found someone that he thought could take down John Cena, now he was looking for someone to take down the one person that he quite possibly could hate even more than Cena.

Laurinaitus had offered him a chance to advance his career _if _Dolph did something for him down the line. The man's questions about whether or not he would be willing to take on Punk again if it came down to it made Dolph sure that Laurinaitus knew about the personal nature of his and Punk's relationship.

Dolph was not too terribly surprised about that. There had been several times where he and Punk hadn't exactly been discreet. The fact that neither gave a damn what the rest of the roster thought of them made it difficult to care about keeping it under wraps.

Dolph was mildly angry about the offer. He _knew _he was good enough to make it to the top. The fact that it was all about Punk, and Laurinaitus' vendetta against him, pissed him off. While he'd gone down that route once before with Laurinaitus, it hadn't exactly worked out well for him. Plus, what he'd told Vickie was the truth. He was _better. _

He should have been looked at for his talent, because he was better, because he was good enough to be. But that…_idiot _was only looking at him because Punk was sleeping in his bed. And that, really, was the reason for the anger that had settled in his chest and refused to leave.

Xxxxxxxx

It started with a few well placed comments from Jack. Dolph had seen the expression on the man when he'd walked backstage for RAW. They'd been sitting backstage together, waiting, watching Laurinaitus come out to the ring. Dolph couldn't help but let out a disbelieving snort when the man claimed that he would be the one on the cover of WWE '13. Dolph had sat up just a little straighter when Punk had interrupted the general manager and revealed who really would be on the cover of the video game.

"Hm." Jack had tilted his head as he watched the segment.

"What?" Dolph asked, sinking back down in his seat, waiting for Punk's match with Bryan to start.

"He made the video game cover too huh?" Jack asked.

"So?" Dolph couldn't tear his attention away from the monitor. Punk had come out of his last match with Bryan hurting and unable to sleep.

"Just saying…He really did make it, didn't he? I mean, WWE champion, the cover of the video game…" He paused a moment and glanced over at Dolph. "Seems to me that Laurinaitus is the only guy not giving him his props too."

Dolph's lips thinned as he thought about that. He knew that most of the older vets in the business respected Punk a great deal. Guys like Roddy Piper and Bret Hart…

"Don't you hate him?" Dolph questioned Jack with narrowed eyes because he could have sworn that Jack sounded impressed.

"So?"

And Dolph shook his head. He didn't really want to get into Jack's head. They were tag team partners but that was as far as it went. They weren't really friends. In fact, Dolph didn't have any real friends on the roster.

There wasn't anybody backstage who hadn't stabbed another in the back. Even Cena, in his early days before he had made it to championship status. Trusting someone completely who worked for the company had always seemed rather stupid to him.

Dolph's gaze wondered back to the monitor. That mindset had been one of the reasons why he and Punk had gotten on so well. _Please…I wouldn't even advise anyone to trust me, _had been Punk's answer when they had talked about it.

As soon as these thoughts crossed over his mind, Dolph frowned and had to admit that, maybe, there was a certain level of trust that had developed between he and Punk. It wasn't complete but it was there.

"Guess the company really does believe in him now," Jack commented, bringing Dolph out of his thoughts and bringing back the earlier anger Dolph had felt.

Xxxxxxxx

"So, I guess this makes me a sell out."

"What?" Dolph glanced over at Punk, who was sitting up against the headboard of the hotel bed, momentarily distracted from his thoughts. There was a slight smirk on Punk's face and he had his phone out.

"Apparently, being on the cover of a video game makes you a sell out."

"You don't sound too concerned," Dolph commented.

Punk shrugged. "Haters," he said with amusement dancing in his dark green eyes, both at the word itself and at the people hating him.

Dolph didn't answer to that. His anger from before hadn't yet left. In fact, it had only gotten worse after Punk had revealed on RAW that he would be on the cover of WWE '13. After that display out in the ring, where Punk had both embarrassed and upstaged the general manager, Laurinaitus was going to be even more motivated to go after him.

"What's the matter?" Punk asked him, raising an eyebrow.

"Nothing."

"Sure." Punk set his phone aside and turned to face Dolph, leaning into him.

"What are you doing?"

"Distracting you," Punk answered, slipping his hand into Dolph's boxers. A few minutes later, it worked, and Dolph did forget his anger.

Xxxxxxx

"Fuck no. I'm not the one having matches with cooperate assholes and commentators."

"You mean, not anymore right? Didn't you have a pay per view match with Triple H when he was running RAW?"

"Yes but, you see, Triple H is actually a wrestler as well, Cena."

Dolph gritted his teeth and attempted to ignore the conversation going on to his left. He had no clue how Cena and Punk had become sort of friends but, somehow, they had. It was irritating him more than usual at that moment.

He had yet to give his answer to Laurinaitus. The longer he had to sit and listen to Cena and Punk, the more he was considering it, however. There was something stalling him.

Later, when Punk was wrapped up in his arms, he would refuse to admit to himself that it _was _Punk stalling him, that it was the fact that it was more than trust that had been growing between them.

Xxxxxxxx

Jack could not suppress the grin on his face after he'd left Dolph. He'd seen the frustration building in Dolph, knew the man only needed a few pushes in the right direction. The offer Eve had made him, through Laurinaitus, was something that he had been unable to refuse.

He just needed to keep on Dolph, to fuel that frustration in Dolph. Despite the fact that they were not friends outside of work, Jack was still pretty sure he knew Dolph well. At least, well enough to know that, if pushed, Dolph would do exactly what Eve had suggested he would do.

And Jack could only find pleasure at the prospect. Dolph had been planning on breaking apart their tag team, after all. He knew that. This plan, however, would benefit Jack in the long run, if Laurinaitus followed through, that was.

It wouldn't be too hard. Dolph would be a victim of his own ego. He would do it and Jack would be there to watch CM Punk fall.


End file.
